'All to benefit from gas'

South Africa will make sure all its people benefit when it develops its shale gas reserves and will not repeat the errors it made with mining, said Zweli Mkhize, treasurer of the ANC, in a recent interview.

The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, approved by parliament, will entitle the state to a 20% stake in new oil and gas ventures, and give it an option on unspecified additional shareholdings "at an agreed price". The bill is awaiting the signature of President Jacob Zuma.

Companies, including Exxon Mobil and Total, have said the law will deter investment.

South Africa is yet to develop what the US Energy Information Administration estimates are the eighth-biggest shale-gas reserves in the world.

"Gas will be a serious game-changer," Mkhize said last week.

South Africa has the world's biggest platinum, chrome, vanadium and manganese reserves.

But the companies that exploit the deposits have been criticised by the government for not doing enough to train workers and improve the living conditions of communities near their mines, and for not processing the minerals they produce in this country.

Shale explorers are targeting South Africa, China, Russia, Australia, India and Argentina in pursuit of deposits similar to those that have revolutionised energy supplies in the US.

"There is a need now for a very different approach to investment by companies, maybe in partnership with the government," the ANC treasurer said.

There is a "mismatch between expectations and the reality of the availability of resources", Mkhize said.

The Marikana deaths "opened our eyes to a lot of things that we could be doing differently".

"No one wants to see another Marikana but we also don't want the social dynamics associated with Marikana," he said.

The ANC wants to ensure a similar "imbalance" is not replicated when companies start exploring for gas in the Karoo, Mkhize said.

Companies including Royal Dutch Shell hope to tap as much as 390trillion cubic feet of gas.

Interest in exploration for oil and gas off the coast is at its highest ever, according to Petroleum Agency SA .